


i've got your name tattooed in an arrow heart

by aceofdiamonds



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 01:24:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2172630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofdiamonds/pseuds/aceofdiamonds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>percy is in a band. nico is too. percy's sure it's love at first sight</p>
<p>"Yes but if I hadn’t decided to visit my lovely friends at work then I never would have met my potential soul mate. We're both <i>musicians</i>, Jason, do you know what this means?" </p>
<p>"You're both annoyingly sensitive? The sex will be loud?" </p>
<p>"No -- well, yes, that's a given. But no this means we are <i>meant to be</i>."</p>
            </blockquote>





	i've got your name tattooed in an arrow heart

 

 

Percy meets Nico di Angelo on a Friday. The first meeting happens in a crowded bar in the middle of New York City and Percy first lays eyes on him at 10.56pm.

"Hey, Jason," he leans across the bar to tug at the bartender's sleeve. They're friends, mostly, this sort of treatment is allowed. "Who's that?"

"Who?" But Jason's smirking and he knows _exactly_ who Percy is talking about.

Percy gestures at the tiny stage by the other wall with a pained expression. There's a boy -- no, not a boy, he's older than that, but not by much going by his face, but he has tattoos up and down his arms, tattoos that Percy thinks he really wants to lick and so he classes the situation as legal. His hair is messy and wild, short at bits and covering his eyes and curling over the collar of his t-shirt at others. He's bent over a guitar, deep in conversation with a pretty dark-haired girl with a skirt short enough to show off the bows at the top of her stockings, and when he stands up straight he's tall and thin. Percy whines at the back of his throat.

"Cut me off," he announces, downing the rest of his drink then slamming it on the bar. "I need to remember this night for the rest of my life."

"You're not even supposed to be here," Jason points out with that smirk still firmly in place. Forget friendship, Percy hates him. "You're on tomorrow night."

"Yes but if I hadn’t decided to visit my _lovely_ _friends_ at work then I never would have met my potential soul mate. We're both _musicians_ , Jason, do you know what this means?"

"You're both annoyingly sensitive? The sex will be loud?"

"No -- well, yes, that's a given. But no this means we are _meant_ _to_ _be_."

"You should have been cut off three drinks ago," Jason sighs. "I told Reyna to keep an eye on you."

"Are you saying I'm a liability?" Percy is equal parts proud and outraged. His mom has been calling him a liability for 22 years. She says it fondly, though, and usually kisses his cheek for good measure. Jason has already moved over to serve a customer beside Percy. It makes it burn that little bit more.

"You've sat there all night and drank those fruity cocktails that no one actually buys," he says as he pulls a pint, as though that makes some kind of point.

" _Hey_." Reyna sweeps over, leaning up to grab a bottle of Morgan's. "Watch it. They went down a treat with a hen party last week."

Jason tosses a hand in the air like whatever point he was trying to make has been proven and moves away down the bar to deal with the rowdy group of girls at the other end. One of them waves at Percy, batting her eyes, and Percy winks at her distractedly before turning back to the stage where the band are getting ready to play.

"Your boy's name is Nico," Reyna says over her shoulder as she makes three cocktails simultaneously. Reyna is one of the few people Percy has complete and utter respect for. The more he tells her this the more free drinks she slips him, so, everyone's a winner. "Turned up two days ago, said his band have been playing all over the city. I was going to tell him where to go -- turning up two days before what the hell? -- but he declined the first pay installment, said they were doing us a favour and that they'll collect after."

"Cocky," Percy nods, intrigued. "Nico." He rolls the name around his mouth. “ _Nico_. Didn't happen to say where he was from, did he? I need an in."

Reyna rolls her eyes. "No, he didn't give me his life story funnily enough."

"Why are you hindering me? What have I ever done to you?" Percy holds up a hand to stop himself because there's a whole book to be written there.

There's a clash that rings around the bar and then the band launch into their first song, sudden and surprising enough to cut off all conversations and turn everyone towards the stage. It's loud and fast and Nico murmurs and croons the lyrics low into the mic to pull you in until you're halfway off your seat, falling back when he shouts louder than the drums and guitars and bass, words that Percy can't make out but wants to desperately.

The song ends with a riff from the girl with the stockings, her blue painted fingernails sliding over the strings and Percy's belly jumps. There's a beat of silence, the band watching almost aggressively, before the applause begins.

"We're the Wendy Darlings and that was All For You," Nico says into the mic he has cradled in his hand. There's ink spiralling down across the back of his hand, a sharp contrast with the paleness of his fingers. Percy grips his glass tighter. "Here's Wonderland."

This one is more of the same: Nico's head bent over his guitar, the words dripping from his mouth and maybe Percy is getting carried away here but he hasn’t gotten laid in weeks, so, really it’s a miracle he hasn’t jumped on stage already. But if he steps back, if he listens to the beat of the drums, the bass and guitar merging seamlessly and the lyrics threading and twisting between everything, he’s impressed. They’re good. _Really_ good. And that’s something that hasn’t happened in a while.

“Competition for you, Jackson,” Jason smirks at the glass he’s drying. Everyone always goes on about how _nice_ Jason is but they don't know him like Percy does. They don't _know_. "Want another?"

"You're enabling me," Percy says, holding out his glass. He turns back to the stage in time to see Nico walk from one end of the stage to the other, his focus completely on his guitar. Percy watches his hands and thinks they could make phenomenal music together, you know, on top of everything else. Nico looks up for a second, just before he grabs the mic again, and his eyes meet Percy's, just for that brief moment. Percy winks for a reaction and gets nothing.

The rest of the set passes in a blur of beer and mumbled comments to Jason and Reyna about this fucking kid who has rocked his world. He watches Reyna mix more cranberry juice than usual into his drink but doesn’t call her out on it because he would like his memory to be crystal clear in the morning.

Afterwards, when the Wendy Darlings have disappeared into the back room and Percy has passed into the sleepy stages that insist on coming with consuming alcohol, he moves over to a table near the stage. He drops his head onto his folded arms, stuck between fighting the heaviness of his eyelids and giving in to sleep until Jason will shake him awake later.

"You okay there?"

A lot of willpower combined with hearing what could possibly be the voice from the stage gets Percy's head up off of his arms so he's looking right at Nico. “Yeah.” He sits up straight quickly, too quickly; Nico’s hand hovers across the table like it’s going to steady him but he holds back. Percy’s considering spinning a bit more. “Fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“One of your eyes is very unfocused,” Nico says, a smirk sliding onto his face. “It seemed fine earlier when you winked at me --”

“So you saw and didn’t reciprocate?”

“I was busy.”

“I see,” and Percy mostly does see, unfocused eye or not. “Are you busy now?”

“Leo and Hazel are arguing about something,” Nico says, picking at the table in front of him. There’s a burn mark the size of the pad of his finger; when he presses with his nail a piece of the wood flakes off. “Might as well get a drink while I wait, right?”

“Right,” Percy nods in agreement, suddenly feeling much more awake.“You wanna get me one too?”

Nico digs into his pocket and when that movement happens to slide his jeans a couple of inches down his hips, well. “Sure, what do you want? Another one of those purple things?”

“You should try them. Tastes like happiness.”

Nico shakes his head. “Disgusting.”

And Percy laughs loud in the emptying bar, loud enough that he thinks he catches a smile on Nico’s face as he turns away.

“Interesting band name,” Percy starts with when Nico sits back down. He takes a gulp of his drink, wincing at the burn, and watches Nico’s eyes flash with something dark, something bright.

“It has meaning,” he says, glaring at Percy from under his bangs.

“Hey is that an accusation, Nico... I don’t know your last name.”

“And you’re not going to.” Nico finishes his drink and wipes his hand over his mouth. His lips are stained red and that’s his band coming through the side door now, the girl with the stockings bubbly and gesturing wildly to the boy beside her who looks half in love and half like he wants to hit something. Percy knows the feeling. “See you around, Percy.”

"How d'you know my name?" he asks, quick, before he loses him.

"It's on that poster over there," he says and points over to the wall behind Percy where sure enough there's his band and there's his name in smaller print underneath along with Piper's and Annabeth's. "How do you know mine?"

“Just do.”

“You’re playing tomorrow, aren’t you?”

“S’what your poster says, doesn’t it?”

“You’re an ass.”

“We’re leaving this on uneven ground,” Percy calls to Nico, swinging onto the back two legs of his chair to watch Nico leave. He walks like he’s still on stage, all hunched shoulders and slouch, then he opens the door and all but slinks into the shadows. Percy falls back onto all four legs with a bump, picking up his empty glass.

“Closing in ten minutes, Percy, you walking home with us?”

“Wha -- yeah, sure.”

He gives his jacket to Reyna and whistles loudly in Jason’s ear all along the street, ducking into his apartment with the feeling that tonight was a good one.

 

.

 

The next night Percy happens to lift his head from his bass just in time to see Nico order at the bar. Piper falls into the bridge then, singing about driving along at a speed as fast as her heart and Percy has to concentrate on not slipping off the strings. He’s hot and sweaty and that feeling he gets every time they perform is swelling up inside of him making everything seem that much brighter. He holds onto it, forgetting all about Nico until the end of the set when he looks over at the bar again and the only faces he recognises are Jason and Reyna’s.

“You did great, babe,” Jason says later when it’s only them left in the building.

Piper leans back from where she’s perched on the bar -- every time Percy tries that he gets told he’s breaking safety regulations; Jason is playing _favourites_ \-- and pecks his cheek. “Thanks. First time trying out that second song but it worked alright, didn’t it?”

“Well a guy in the front row tried to take his top off halfway through it which I’m taking as a good sign,” Percy says, sliding his arm past Piper’s waist to steal her glass. The water is cool as it runs down his throat. He takes another swallow then allows it to be tugged out of his hand, back into Piper’s.

“A very good sign,” Annabeth agrees. She picks up a couple of CDs from the pile that has been getting smaller every week. “Should we add it to the demo?”

“Maybe we should try it a couple more times, along with that one we started the other day.”

Annabeth nods, chewing at her lip as she goes over the list again like they don’t have the songs and their order memorised. “Nice ad-libbing on Friends Included, Piper.”

“You know that one’s my favourite,” Piper grins.

Percy’s favourite is Magic Doesn't Work because it's fast and catchy but it's sad, too, and isn't that the best combination. Dancing around your room to a song about losing the one you love is something Percy wants every person in the country to have the opportunity to do.

Reyna locks up the front door, pulling down the blinds, then ushers everyone into the back hallway towards the side door. "Just remember who gave you free drinks when you were starting out," she grins, stepping back to let Jason pull the door shut. 

"Free CDs for life," Annabeth promises, sticking out her tongue when Reyna aims a half-hearted swing at her. "Come on, let's go home."

 

.

 

For all of his thinking about it, the first time Percy sleeps with Nico it's hazy, all breathy moans and the feel of Nico's legs tight around his waist after a chance meeting at the bar along the road from Jason and Reyna’s. They fall in the door kissing hard and fast and it’s exactly how Percy has spent the last few nights imagining it would be like. He wakes up alone, the sheets rumpled at his hips. It's an alright experience. Would definitely repeat.

 

.

 

When he gets out of bed a few hours later he stretches, groaning at the ache settling into his skin and smiling as he wanders through to his tiny kitchen. He grabs the open cereal box on the counter and has swallowed three handfuls before he notices the note on the back of the box in green marker, curling across the cartoon squirrel and into the wordsearch.

_i had fun last night. here’s my number if you wanna do it again_

.

 

_you got a cd i can listen to?_

_who’s this?_

_you know who this is, di angelo. seriously, i wanna hear more_

_we don’t have any yet. leo is being stubborn and refusing to do anything other than free downloads_

_hey that works for me. send me a link?_

.

 

Another Thursday night, another performance, and there’s Nico at the bar again, nodding at something Reyna is saying, a short laugh exchanged between the two. Percy keeps his eyes on him for the length of a song, his jeans growing tighter when Nico drops his stare to Percy’s fingers on the strings, moving automatically to the melody he’s been playing for months, his eyes focused solely on the way Percy plays. When he looks up again Percy winks, grins when he gets one back, then he falls back into the music, the words forming in his mouth as Piper sings them.

This time Nico hangs around afterwards and meets Piper and Annabeth, shaking their hands and saying it’s nice to meet them while his other hand is skating lower down Percy’s back, his thumb brushing the inch of skin where Percy’s t-shirt has ridden up.

“Percy’s told me all about you,” Nico says.

“Likewise," Piper smiles warmly. 

He has someone with him this time: a tall Chinese guy with an easy smile.

“This is Frank, Hazel’s boyfriend. He handles our business side.”

“We have Annabeth for that,” Piper laughs, linking her arm with Annabeth’s. “She’s the brains of this operation.”

“If you’re the looks then what’s Percy?” Annabeth asks, blowing a kiss in Percy’s direction as she leads Piper over to the bar. “We’ll come to your next show, Nico. We’ve heard big things!”

“That’s my band,” Percy says once they’re gone, hanging his head and leaning into Nico. He dips his hand into Nico’s pocket, taking a piece of gum that comes out with his phone. He offers the packet to Frank. “Wanna piece?”

“Thanks. You’ve got a good sound. There’s a gap in the market for something like you. You write all your own songs I’m guessing.”

“Yeah, it’s mostly a group thing but if we’ve got something we want to try then we go for it. The last song we played, that’s Annabeth’s pride and joy.”

Frank nods, his eyes following the path Nico’s hand is following into Percy’s pocket to exact some sort of revenge for his stolen phone and gum. “We’re playing over at The Keys tomorrow night if you want to come?”

“Sure. I’ll say to Jason and Reyna. Reyna’s been listening to Wonderland all week; she’s in love.”

"It's a date," Nico says, keeping his eyes locked with Percy's for a few seconds too long before he steps away and leads Frank out into the street.

 

.

 

Just like last time Percy can’t take his eyes off the way Nico moves across the stage, his mouth soft to the crowd then loud and strong. He’s bent in on himself, curled over his guitar, lost to the music. Percy watches him dance during one of the songs, keeping his moves small and compact like he’s trying not to let anyone catch him, like he has forgotten that the people are here to see him.

“He’s good,” Piper says, coming up behind Percy clutching a vodka and Coke for herself and holding out a beer for Percy. “The girl, though, she’s incredible. Have you spoken to her?”

“Not yet.” Nico’s mentioned Hazel a couple of times, how she’s his half-sister and they grew up together. She’s dating their manager. Manager makes the Wendy Darlings sound so much more organized than Poseidon’s Wrath whose admin side is handled by the three of them, mainly Annabeth, who are they kidding. They phone and email business and companies and print their posters at the library; what more can a manager do really?

“You should. She’s a real ball of fire.” As Piper says this Hazel shakes her hair forward and pulls of this riff that has Percy stepping forward wanting to ask her right here right now where she learned that. “Your boy is great with the crowd. Look.”

Nico is saying something about New York being the twisted reality of Alice and Wonderland. The crowd says something back, the voices getting lost into one. Nico grins at whatever it was then launches into their next song.

“Shit,” Annabeth says, scrabbling in her pocket for her phone. “I promised Reyna I would phone her for this.”

“She’s working,” Percy points out.

Annabeth hums an agreement as she dials.

“Jason’s going to be so pissed.”

“You love it when Jason’s pissed,” Piper says. “He told me he thinks you do things on purpose half the time just to make him mad.”

”Of course I do.” He thought that was obvious. Isn’t that why everyone does what they do? “Don’t you?”

“I get make-up sex out of it,” she shrugs. “I don’t mind it.”

Percy loves Piper McLean with everything he has.

He has to leave her after the set is finished. “Tell Hazel I said hi,” she calls over to him, tugging Annabeth back to the bar. “See you tomorrow, Percy.”

This time Percy gets to go back with a Nico running on adrenaline who babbles about the show and kisses Percy sloppily and wet, laughing into their mouths. Percy rides Nico in his tiny apartment with his bandmates two rooms away and Nico digging his fingers into his hips, making these needy little gasps when Percy swivels his hips and bends down to suck a mark onto Nico’s belly. He guides Nico;s hand to his cock, his eyes falling shut without him noticing because fuck fuck fuck. Nico bites at his shoulder, stilling when he comes, and pulling Percy off roughly until he follows.

He doesn't get to pass on Piper’s message until the morning when he’s leaving. She smiles shyly and thanks him, telling he’s welcome any time. Leo winks at him as he’s closing the door.

 

.

 

_where are you?_

_out for a walk, why?_

_it’s raining, dumbass. i’m at your apartment._

_i happen to like the rain_

_percyyyyy_

_there’s a key under the mat_

_that’s a cliche place to keep a key_

_so cliche you didn’t even look there_

_fuck you_

.

 

When Percy lets himself in an hour later Nico is curled up on the couch under a blanket. He looks sort of like a cat from here, Percy thinks, kicking off his shoes then pushing them further under the table, especially with his hair curling up like that.

He flops onto the couch, half of his body on Nico’s, the rest of him hanging off the end, and blows on the back of his neck. “Miss me?”

Nico twists until their face to face, his bracketed by Percy’s arms. He smiles quickly, clearing it away before Percy can blink. “You’re all wet.”

“Good observation.” He burrows closer, his hands slipping to press at Nico’s neck, down to his waist, drawing a whine that isn’t altogether disgust. He smirks and raises an eyebrow at the scowl Nico is trying so desperately to hold on to. “Help me warm up.”

“Get off me, Jackson.” Even as he says it he’s grabbing at Percy’s hoodie, pushing it down his arms until Percy tugs it off completely and chucks it on the floor. “You’re _wet_.”

“Tough shit.”

There’s droplets of rain dripping from his hair onto their faces when Percy leans down and kisses Nico, the sensation somewhat close to kissing in the rain, so there’s something achieved? He sucks at Nico’s lip, swallowing down the moan and wriggling closer, the blanket twisted between them an obstacle he’s too impatient to overcome but he lifts his hips and gestures for Nico to get rid of the offending article. “Come on, man. Jeans off.”

“You too,” Nico says into his mouth before he moves to kiss at Percy’s jaw, biting hard enough to make Percy hiss, the pain shooting closer to pleasure more than anything else. “This isn’t the best place for this.”

Percy gets his t-shirt off, feeling for the zip of Nico’s jeans. “If there’s one thing I’m good at, di Angelo, it’s having sex in any place available.”

“I am so lucky to have met you,” Nico says, tilting his head to stare at Percy. There’s sarcasm there but there’s also not so Percy takes it and runs, kissing him deeply. Nico’s mouth is warm and wet and Percy shifts even closer, trying to close every gap between their bodies.

After, when Nico is sprawled on top of Percy and neither of them feel like moving, Percy picks up his wet t-shirt and drapes it over Nico's back, just for the squawk and string of curse words that follow. There's another language in there, too -- _cazzo_ and _figlio di troia --_ , something European, Italian maybe. He files that discovery away for later.

  
  


.

 

_i can't stop thinking about kissing you_ is scrawled onto the bed post of Percy's bed. It doesn't ever get mentioned but sometimes when Nico slouches into the apartment, the epitome of cool, he mumbles a hi and then he's on Percy and kissing him against the wall and Percy can hear it in the way they move.

 

.

 

"So," Jason says. "Nico di Angelo."

"What about him? And how do you know his full name?"

"Piper told me," he shrugs. "He seems nice."

"Yeah. He is."

"That's been what? Three months now?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Getting serious?"

"This feels like a father-son talk although I don't know how you learned the techniques involved seeing as neither of us have a father."

Jason rolls his eyes. "Answer the question, Perc."

What does getting serious even mean? With Annabeth he knew it was serious a couple of weeks in when he wanted to spend all of his time with her, kissing her or not. He was happy with her more often than not, his emotions feeling much more clear-cut and easy to understand than this time around.

With Nico they're both aware that the other is holding something back, that even after these past few weeks Percy isn't quite sure what is going on. A few times Nico has disappeared for at least three days with no contact and then he'll turn up at Percy's door and kiss him against the jamb, eager and desperate. The thing is when he disappears Percy doesn't even process it, just accepts it and carries on with whatever he's working on, like he could live with or without Nico in his life.

But Nico has stayed in his apartment the last three nights, he thinks this might be Nico's t-shirt he's wearing, the scent clinging to him, warm and familiar. He knows that Nico is soft and sleepy and neither grumpy nor chipper in the morning, just there, quiet. When they  grab something to eat they always swap parts of their meal: fries for Nico, onion rings for Percy, a system set up out of nowhere. He knows that he likes kissing Nico and fucking him and he loves the way their bodies fit together. Nico makes him happy and angry and alive. Yeah, it’s like something out of their happier love songs. So what.

"It's not easy to describe," he settles on.

And then, after all his questioning seconds earlier, Jason accepts this and says, "As long as you're alright."

"When have I ever been not alright, Jason?" He grins lazily. His leg swings back and forth hitting the wooden underside of the bar with a thump thump thump not unlike his heart in his chest.

 

.

 

_you busy?_

_why?_

_answer the question_

_tell me why first_

_annabeth’s supposed to be watching her brothers but she’s sick so she asked me_

_why do you need me_

_there’s two of them. i only have two hands_

_..._

_dude, help me_

_i’m not good with kids_

_when they're gone i’ll blow you AND get you a mcdonalds_

_fine ok i’ll help_

.

 

“Where is this from?” Percy traces over the letters on the inside of Nico’s bicep. He’s ticklish here, always squirms and huffs a laugh when Percy touches it. Now he sucks in a breath and holds still to let Percy finish his examination. k i l l y o u r h e r o e s a n d f i g h t. “I like this one.”

“An Awolnation song,” Nico murmurs. “I was going to go for something more morbid, was in one of those moods, and then this song came on and it sounded better than something about sadness.”

“Nice choice.” Percy presses his mouth to the skin where the k is inked, staying for a long moment. He feels Nico’s hand card through his hair and waits a second longer before he raises his head. With his eyes still on Nico’s faces he reaches his hand blindly to where he knows his second favourite of Nico’s designs is. “Tell me about this one.”

The dragon covers the right half of his chest, golden and majestic. Fire billows from its mouth and curls down Nico’s side, over his ribs, the tail stopping just short of his belly button. There’s something realistic about it that Percy can look away from; every time he touches the skin covered by it he half expects to feel the heat only to be met with the constant coolness of Nico.

“Who doesn’t love dragons?” Nico’s grin is lopsided and easy, a laugh thrumming in his throat. “It’s something for Leo, too. He’s obsessed with them -- he’s got a bearded lizard called Festus.”

“Annabeth has a fish called Daedulus. We think it might be dead but she’s refusing to flush it.”

“How would you like it if someone flushed your pet away?”

“Come on, di Angelo. I thought you knew me by now. No one would ever let me be responsible for an animal, not even one as boring as a fish.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. You’re a mess.”

“A hot mess,” Percy says, then winks, laughing at the groan. “Wait, shut up. I’m not finished examining your body.”

Roses bloom across his left forearm and down onto his hand where they turn dark and worn. The other hand is simpler, only a string of words circle his wrist. “Empty churches with soulless souls -- that’s a song. Bones! MS MR.”

Nico taps his hand against the bed in mock-applause. “Are you finished yet? I’m hungry.”

“I’ll get you food in a minute,” Percy glances up, kissing the crook of his elbow when Nico’s mouth bends into a scowl. “I’ll make pancakes. I’m the best at pancakes, ask Annabeth.”

“I believe you.” He bends his legs so his feet are flat on the bed and his knees are raised, Percy trapped between them. “You have three seconds or I’m leaving.”

“You can’t leave that fast,” Percy says absentmindedly as he discovers a heart he’s never seen before, inches from Nico’s real one. “Your clothes are all over the floor.”

“I’ll fly away using my dragon.”

“You get very ridiculous when you’re hungry.”

When he smiles it’s sharp and pointy, a close comparison to the griffin he has somewhere on his body. “I’m always ridiculous. I just hide it well.”

Percy raises himself onto his elbows and reaches forward to slot their mouths together. “We make a good match.”

They get crumbs all over the bed and the syrup is sticky on Percy’s fingers and Nico’s cheek. He laughs until his stomach hurts and watches Nico do the same.

 

.

 

"I don't _know_ how long we're staying here. However long it takes to make an impression."

"Making an impression in New York can take years, Nico. It could take forever. Are you going to stay here forever?"

"I don't fucking know, Percy. Okay? I don’t know. I’m here as long as it makes sense.”

Which is _bullshit_ because since when did New York and Nico and Percy make sense? Since when did _music_ make sense? “Where did you even come from, Nico? You turn up one night and suddenly you’re fucking everywhere.”

“Stop asking me questions you know I don’t have an answer to.”

“I’m sorry for taking an interest in your life,” he snaps. “How naive of me to think that that was reasonable.”

“I’m here now. I’m with you. Why do you need to know anything else?” Nico’s eyes are dark, something in them that almost has Percy taking a step back.

“Stop being so goddamn _mysterious_ all the time,” he shouts instead. Nico flinches but juts out his chin because he’s so stubborn, so willing for a fight, all the time. “It’s okay to let some things out and it’s okay to listen to people when they say they want to know you.”

“You don’t know that.” He’s so quiet, a world and a half away from the boy on stage.

“Yes. I do.” Nico tilts his chin down, his gaze directed somewhere on the long stretch of space between their feet. “Nico. Listen to me: I want to know you, if you’ll let me.”

"It's after my sister," Nico says suddenly. "The band," he adds when Percy fails to put the pieces together.

"Oh. Cute." It is cute, he guesses. Hazel is nice enough. She keeps Nico in line which gets a bunch of admiration points in Percy's book.

Nico nods, looking down at where his knee is pressed against Percy's. "Yeah, she died when she was nine and she reminded me of Wendy, so."

"Nico." Percy reaches a hand out hesitantly, stopping just short of Nico's shoulder but Nico leans into it immediately like that was all he was waiting for. "I'm sorry," he says after a while.

“It was a long time ago.”

“How did it happen?”

Nico turns his face to the window, his voice almost inaudible when he says, “A car accident. Fucking drunk driver. My mom was in the car too.”

Percy’s never lost anyone close to him before, he can’t reach what Nico must have gone through, all he can do is hold Nico against him and hope that can be some help.

They sit there, quiet and still, for a long while, the sky growing dark out of Nico's living room window, until Nico breaks the silence with a scratchy, “There. Now you know something real about me.”

“That wasn’t what this was about,” Percy says. “I’m glad you told me but you shouldn’t feel like you needed to --”

“Honestly? It feels less like a lead weight in my stomach now that someone other than Hazel knows.” Nico smiles softly when Percy continues to frown feeling like he’s just pulled something huge from Nico for the sake of an argument. “Percy, stop it. I’m fine. You’re fine. Let’s go out. Let’s go get something to eat, okay?”

They both get sogreasytheirhandsfeelslidy cheeseburgers from a diner a few blocks away from Nico's apartment. Percy rests his foot against Nico's ankle, telling himself it's not an attempt at reassurance regarding something he has no idea about, he's just a touchy-feeling person, ask anyone.

"Thanks," Nico says after a while, sipping his Coke through a broken straw, "for, you know, listening."

Percy shrugs, unsure of where to go now, and settles for putting his hand on top of Nico's in the middle of the table. "Anytime. And what I said before, you can continue to be mysterious, it's fine."

"I think Frank's scared of whatever's inside my head," Nico says, leaning in like he's spilling a huge government conspiracy theory. "I have too many secrets."

"Goes with the image."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You're balancing somewhere in between punk and pop, where are you going with that?"

Yeah. This has been a recurring conversation in band practices because while they don't necessarily want to label themselves as anything or force themselves down any particular route they know if they ever gain some real interest they're going to have to categorise themselves someway and "a little bit of this and a lot of that" isn't a sufficient answer.

"Nearer to punk than pop; the songs we've been working on recently have been leaning into rock.

"You should get a tattoo," Nico says, his finger tracing lightly up Percy's hand, his palm curving at his wrist. "It's stereotypical but they do tonnes for that sort of impression."

"Is that why you got yours?"

Nico rolls his eyes. "No, I'm just saying. Are you sure Piper doesn't have any?"

"What makes you so sure I don't."

Nico leans in further across the table, moving his head so his mouth is at Percy's ear. "Because I've seen every inch of your body and there's not one spot of ink anywhere."

Percy turns his head, somewhat aware that they're in public but they're the only ones in the back area of the diner and it's late. "Maybe you should check again."

"Yeah?" Nico kisses Percy, tasting of Coke and the salt from the chips. Percy opens his mouth, licking into Nico's. "Right here?

The waitress asks them to leave if they're not getting anything else right around the moment Nico's fingers push aside the material of Percy's t-shirt. It's raining when they step back outside, giggly and full.

"Tell me about yours. Poseidon's Wrath. Sounds brutal."

"It's a running joke in my family. Well, joke's probably the wrong word for it. My dad was an Olympic swimmer, a skill I get from him apparently, and let's just say if I ever run into him --"

"Subtle."

"Are you _smiling_ , Nico?" Percy leans closer, laughing loudly when Nico pushes his face away. "Put that away."

"You're such a dick," Nico huffs but the smile is still there. Percy feels like he's won something. A marathon maybe, or, hell, the Olympics.

 

.

 

"I used to date Annabeth," he throws out there after Nico finishes practice and they stick around for a while longer. He tells him because for some reason he thinks this is information Nico needs to know. “Before we realised it was a bad idea to date within the band.”

“So you picked someone from a rival band instead?”

“We’re not rivals, you loser,” Percy says, nudging at Nico’s shoulder, and then his brain clicks back, “Are we dating?”

“It seems so,” Nico sighs like it’s the worst thing ever but Percy knows him a bit better so he can read that glint in his eye that tells him Nico is happy with the situation. “If that’s okay with you,” he adds unnecessarily.

“You know that’s more than alright with me, Nico,” and then he kisses him, smiling into it and making Nico huff and squirm, murmuring something about who is the true loser here before he feels hands curls at his waist and push closer.

 

.

 

Percy skids into the basement of Piper’s house three minutes late. He’s met with matching looks of exasperation from both Piper and Annabeth even though three minutes is like, the least amount of time he’s ever been late. He should be _awarded_ for this level of timekeeping. “Sorry I’m late. Got held up at work.”

“You don’t have a job, Jackson,” Piper calls over from the amp beside the couch, playing along to the excuse he churns out every couple of weeks.

“I’ve been looking,” he argues, which is very true, it’s just hard to find motivation when your head is constantly filled with notes and lyrics and your deadbeat dad sends money every month. He knows what his dream job is, it’s the one he’s working desperately towards in this room with his two best friends, and so for now, he’s focusing on that. When he reaches 24 and they still don’t have a record deal he’ll definitely make a proper living or else his mom will kill him. “It’s a competitive market out there.”

“Sure,” like Piper knows. Her dad is a famous actor, does a lot of action films that are actually a lot more decent than Percy expected, and he’s the reason they have this sound-proof space in the first place. " _That's_ why you don't have a job."

"Who's Annabeth talking to?" he gestures over to where she's pacing back and forth in front of her drums, her hand tapping against her thigh. It's always been a nervous habit of hers, Percy remembers the times he would trap her fingers under his own, kissing her in a bid to take her mind off whatever had her worrying.

"Some record company phoned earlier about our demo," Piper says, and it's clear she's been wanting to spill this since Percy walked through the door. She walks over to him, her hands fluttering around like she can’t stay still. Percy throws his arm around her shoulders and tries not to think about what this could mean. “What if this is it, Perc?”

He goes to say that they shouldn’t get their hopes up but fuck it. This is what they’ve been wanting since they got put in the same English class and realised they could all play instruments relatively well. “You practiced your autograph enough? Mine’s a mess, it never fits in the box.”

A laugh bubbles out of Piper. She turns so she can wrap her arms around Percy’s waist, her head at his chest. “When I was ten I used to do the e’s back to front on purpose.”

“God, Piper, you’re always finding new ways to avoid conforming to society. You know that’s illegal, right?”

“Mm. I grew out of it when I was 13 and tried to make my writing the neatest it could be.”

“I can never read your writing,” Percy points out. It’s loopy and swirly, all the letters so close together you have to train yourself to work out where one word ends and another begins. None of them have the best penmanship; it means they don’t worry much about people stealing their songs seeing as they’re only legible to the people who wrote them.

“Yeah, I grew out of that too.”

Percy laughs, his eyes flicking over to Annabeth where she’s now rocking from foot to foot, her finger pushing her bottom lip between her teeth, nodding to whatever the voice through the phone is saying.

“Hey, Percy.” Piper tugs at the strings of his hoodie. “I’m glad we’re doing this together -- Annabeth, me, and you. Even if we never make it I’m glad the three of us are getting to do this.”

Annabeth is coming over now, her expression unreadable. Percy braces himself. “So, here’s the thing...”

 

.

 

“Where’ve you been?” Nico asks when Percy walks into his apartment. “I thought we were meeting an hour ago -- and what’s wrong with your face?”

Percy nudges Nico legs over and fits into the small space left on the couch. Percy’s a respectable height, he likes to think he’s tall and so do plenty of other people, but Nico’s a bloody giant. “Practice ran on. Sorry.”

Nico shifts to sit up straighter, his hand on Percy’s thigh as he leans in. “That’s not all. What happened?”

“We got offered a deal?” The words still feel strange to him, despite thinking up countless scenarios involving them over the past few years. He just didn’t expect --

Nico is staring at him with a mix of awe, jealousy, and confusion. “That’s great, Percy. Why are you acting like it’s not a good thing?”

It _is_ a good thing. It’s an amazing thing. “They want us to go bubblegum pop.”

Nico lets out a long breath beside him. “Fuck.”

“That’s what I said,” Percy says, tilting his head back so it rests against the back of the couch. He feels Nico move closer to him but doesn’t acknowledge him. “It’s a great opportunity, I know that, we all do, but we want to make the music we _want_ to make, not the music someone is telling us to make, you know?”

“There’ll be other offers,” Nico says.

“But what if there isn’t? What if this is our one shot?”

“Percy,” Nico says, his hand on Percy’s arm. Percy rolls his head to the side to look at him. “You told me to be more optimistic once, remember that?”

“That was when you thought the cinema would be sold out.”

“Still counts.”

Percy groans, still caught in that sensation he’s been carrying since he left Piper and Annabeth at the bar drowning their sorrows in Jason and Reyna’s vile yet addictive wine and whiskey combination. He likens it to being given a full wardrobe of new clothes only for them to be three sizes too small and a colour he hates. With analogies like that maybe it’s good the record company felt the need to call for change.

“Want to hear what else they wanted?” This is probably the worst bit, if he thinks about. “A demo of covers despite the full track listing of original songs we sent them.”

Nico stands up at this leaving Percy to wonder what’s happening before he clambers into his lap, his thighs settling either side of Percy’s hips. He tilts Percy’s chin up with his fingers, his mouth a thin line when he says. “Fuck them. They don’t know shit about what this means to us.”

“I just want to make music for a living, why is that so hard?”

“Fuck if I know,” Nico shrugs. “At least you’ve had an offer. You know there’s a possibility out there.”

“Your voice makes me really want to have sex with you,” Percy says, and it might seem non-sequitur but Nico gets it. He rolls his eyes and pokes at Percy’s chest but he gets what Percy means by it, that The Wendy Darlings deserve everything and more, too. “It’s going to make a lot of people want to have sex with you. Can we do that now? I need cheering up.”

“You stood me up,” Nico grumbles but his hands slide around Percy’s neck, his mouth soft when he kisses him. “I still think you’re a loser.”

“ _You’re_ a loser,” and then they’re naked and it’s been six months now but it’s still hard to think about anything else when Nico is kissing you and touching you and right now this is what Percy needs.

 

.

 

_jason told me to tell you he would like a fridge magnet from the sears tower_

_we’ve already got him one. piper got him a cuddly eagle too_

_he says thanks_

_is he smiling about the eagle_

_yeah. do i want to know?_

_he has a weird obsession. i don’t ask and neither should you_

_thanks for the warning_

_it’s really sunny in chicago. are you sunbathing_

_it’s raining here so no_

_lame_

_that isn’t lame_

_annabeth agrees that you are lame_

_i’m going to throw your blue hoodie out of the window_

_okay babe you’re not that lame_

_nice save. when are you home_

_six days i think. hopefully. got a show tonight_

_see you when you get home_

.

 

“Is that a tattoo?”

“What?” Percy looks up from his bass, his other hand grabbing for the sheet Nico is holding. He follows Nico’s gaze down to his bicep where the skin is still red. “Oh. Yeah.”

“You go to Chicago for two weeks, get a tattoo, and all you can say is “oh. yeah”?”

“We all got one. Piper was the only one who didn’t cry. Well, ask Annabeth and she’ll say she didn’t but I was there. I saw.”

Nico’s smiling, his hand on Percy’s elbow. His arm stings slightly. “”You’re alive and it’s spectacular.” I like it.”

“It hurt like a bitch. How do you have so many?”

“I don’t feel pain.”

“You are so full of shit, Nico.”

“I’ll come with you and hold your hand next time.” He’s holding his hand now, his fingers linked with Percy’s. God, he missed him the last couple of weeks. “You can cry on my shoulder.”

“Ha ha. You pretend you’re so cool and strong with your guitar and skull tattoos. I know you, Nico di Angelo. I’ve seen your soul and it’s fluffy and pink and covered in marshmallows.”

“I’m gonna kiss you now, is that okay?”

It’s really really okay. Percy sits his bass to the side carefully and then tugs at the hem of Nico’s t-shirt until he gets the hint and crowds into his space, kissing him hard. Percy’s hands curl at Nico’s hips, pulling them flush with his, and thanks every god and star out there for bringing music and this boy into his life.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i have a list of all nico's tattoos. it's long. this is a thing for me


End file.
